


Emerald Gardens reveal Secrets.

by SlySama



Series: Unfinished Works. [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 00:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14759168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlySama/pseuds/SlySama





	Emerald Gardens reveal Secrets.

The grass was a brilliant bright emerald, coming up to knee length.  
The sky was a brilliant light baby blue with the fluffiest cloud coverage that heralded a sunny cool day.   
The trees that surrounded the meadow were large, bordering on ginormous, their leaves able to shield you for meters from the sun as you picnicked beneath them. 

There were tinkles of laughter from what could only be sprites and little faeries as they flitted around the berry bushes playing hide ‘n’ seek. The young children that skipped, frolicked, played hopscotch in the grass with pebbles and chased the more daring sprites lent their laughter to the extravagant gardens; the laughter was infection as it resonated the grounds. 

‘Lily?’ 

‘What?’ 

‘Do you…Do you think maybe you might come to the Gala with me?’ He was very nervous. 

She smiled kindly and watched as the pale face heated; the flush travelled all the way down his bared chest. They had just been swimming in the Lake and he had yet to cover himself with a shirt again. 

His foot scuffed across the soaked grass, kicking up the dark soil beneath, awaiting her answer—he’d been putting asking her off for weeks. The Gala was just around the corner, and he wasn’t even sure she’d say yes. 

‘Gala?’ Her sweet smile widened when her friend only nodded and continued to look down at his now dirt covered foot; they were both still entirely wet. Her hair was dripping into her eyes. She pushed it back from her face and started ringing it off to the side, letting the Lake water dribble down onto the wet earth in a stream between them. ‘Well, since I haven’t been asked by anybody else. I would love to go with you to the Gala, Sev.’ She touched her hand to his arm and watched as his head flew up, focusing from watching the water stream to stare surprised. 

‘Really?’ 

‘Yes, really.’ She chuckled. He sounded so surprised. She grabbed her towel from around her and ran it once more through her ginger locks, drying them properly. This left her to be stared at by her best friend, in nothing but her very Gryffindor Bikini but with just a little flush she continued to dry herself, watching under her lashes her friend practically beaming as bright as the mid-morning sun—almost. ‘I do believe we return before the Gala Day though, but I’m sure your Mother could arrange something?’ She nodded to her own words as Severus hesitated at the mention of returning to Hogwarts. 

He finally picked up his shirt from the lowered branch of the Lake Tree and pushed his dripping darkened head through the neck hole—he nodded slowly. ‘I’m sure she will…’ He wasn’t entirely sure about this though, that that would be the case. 

[~] [~] [~] 

Severus sighed and ran a pale hand through his dark tresses, throwing himself down on his large four-poster and looking up at the sheer canopy. Had he really finally asked his long-time friend, his best friend, his ONLY friend, Lily Evans, the beautiful, incredible, perfect, sweet heartened redhead, emerald eyed beauty to the Gala? 

His ears twitched as he abruptly heard footsteps on the approach; they stopped momentarily down the hall and then resumed until they were before his oaken bedroom door. He spoke before they could even tap a knuckle on the wood. ‘Yes?’ 

‘May I come in Brother?’ 

He sighed and rolled his onyx eyes, waving his hand thoughtlessly at the door. 

It opened. 

‘Ah, you asked her?’ He moved his head in a nodding motion without moving an inch from his prone position on the sheets. ‘How’d it go?’ 

He sighed. 

‘That bad, huh?’ He felt the bed dip and angled his head to blink at the dark brown-haired teenager, no more than two years his senior. 

‘No. She said yes.’ 

His brother blinked. ‘Then why do you look so depressed?’ 

‘I don’t know what to do now…’ He confessed, crossing his arms beneath his head, propping himself up slightly to see his elder brother a little better. 

‘What do you mean? You asked her, she said yes, you go with her you idiot. Then, you make a move.’ He inclined his head with determination and no hesitation in his hazel eyes. Severus silently narrowed his eyes as he heard this, watching as the elder brushed a stray brown hair from his eyes. 

‘Make a move?’ He asked.   
‘Yeah, you make a move, you moron. Before that, uh, what’s his name again…?’ 

‘Potter’ He snarled. 

‘Right, right. Potter.’ He pointed down at Severus. ‘Before that Potter kid does. Otherwise, well, you know she’d pick a hunk like him, yeah? And you said he was a better Quidditch Player, right? That’s the wizarding sport?’ He pointed and pretended to whack a bat. 

Severus rolled his eyes and grouched, ‘Grudgingly.’ 

‘See.’ ‘Anyways, I, Ainala, your Big Brother, recommends that you make your move at this Gala; don’t hesitate. Mother’s going out of her way to get you both here during the school year for two nights, and that’s not even mentioning Lily being here—you know that’s only allowed because of Mother’s standing in the Royal Court.’ 

Severus sighed again and covered his eyes with his arms, trying to block Ainala out. However unsuccessfully that was; the idiot did have a point. 

‘Trust me.’ 

Oh yeah, those were wise words. Whenever Ainala Prince proclaimed Severus should “Trust” him, that usually meant that should Severus end up doing so he’d end up humiliated or in some very deep shit. Maybe he should stop listening to his older brother? But, he really did like Lily and Potter was always butting his way in when they were at Hogwarts, so maybe this was his only opportunity? 

He did need to make a move, sooner, rather than later. 

[~] [~] [~] 

He hated Potter, HATED him! 

How dare he?! 

Lily was his. HIS. How dare Potter ask the beautiful redhead to some stupid Gryffindork Party?! How dare Lily say yes, when she knew it was the same day as the Gala was?! 

He whacked his head back against their tree near the Black Lake and sulked as he watched the Giant Squid play on the opposite side. This couldn’t be fair. He knew Lily, he’d always been there for her, and she’d always been there for him ever since they were 9 and they’d met at the park in Spinner’s End, but now things were different, ever since they’d entered Hogwarts and had been sorted into different houses. Why was it not him that Lily smiled at like that? Why was it not him that she—that she wanted to sleep with, why did it have to be POTTER?! He smacked his fist back into the tree trunk. 

Why did they have to become more distant? 

He knew he had done some bad things over the last seven years. He’d tried to apologise, he had in fact; profusely. He’d thought that she had finally forgiven him? It had definitely seemed this way when she’d welcomed his invitation to the Elven Realm, it had seemed she had forgiven him when she had accepted his invitation to the Gala as his date; they’d been having fun, right? 

He just didn’t understand it. 

He shook his head despondently and threw the book he hadn’t been reading for some now into the dirt by his feet in a show of pique and frustration. 

‘Severus’ 

‘Hello, Severus?!’ 

A hand waved in front of his face and he shook himself out of his thoughts grudgingly. ‘Oh.’ Eyes wide he stared up at Lily and her bemused expression, one hand holding a lock of fiery hair out of her face as her head angled down to look at him. ‘Lily.’ 

‘Mmhm. What are you doing, I’ve never seen you treat a book so horrible before.’ She pointed toward the pitifully lain out book, covered in dirt. He stared at it a moment and spelled it back to him, dusting off the text. 

‘Uh, I was just thinking.’ His eyes immediately narrowed, just a for a second behind her as he finally spotted that Potter and his gang of tormentors were there. ‘What are you doing?’ He asked, a slight emphasis on “you”. 

‘Not much. I was wondering if your Mother sorted something out?’ She leaned a little closer, as his identity was supposed to be a secret, though it wasn’t like Dumbledore didn’t know—the man seemed to know everything, even when no one else did. 

‘My moth—Oh.’ She wants to go now? He wondered. His mother had sorted it out from the letter he had received that morning but, ‘Yes, she has.’ He said slowly. 

‘That’s wonderful, when do we leave?’ 

‘Same day as your Gryffindor Party?’ He made it a question and tried to keep as much annoyance and snark out of his voice as possible. 

Her emerald eyes seemed to pale a second, as her freckled face did. ‘Oh no, I’m so sorry Severus. I didn’t realise it was the same day!! OH, I’ll go tell him I can’t go, he’ll get over it.’ She frantically waved behind her and ran off with his small inclining nod. Would you look at that? He thought dazedly. Maybe she did like him more than Potter, after all? 

[~] [~] [~] 

‘Now Severus, you just wait right here until she comes down, you hear?’ He was patted rather harshly on his shoulder by his Mother after being steered to the bottom of the marble staircase after descending them himself. He nodded rather quickly and tried to keep his body away from the smacking; it kind of hurt. 

He waited for quite a while before Lily made her appearance at the top of the stairs; radiating gorgeousness and heavenly beauty in her lightly green-coloured dress. It matched her eyes perfectly and flared out like a princess gown from the tulle skirt beneath. Her fire locks were done up in perfect braids that curled around her crown and dropped to fall across her bare shoulders and blushing cheeks. 

She was a virtual goddess. 

Severus wasn’t sure if he’d even taken a breath since she’d appeared, from the lack of air making its way into his lungs, he highly doubted he had so took a larger than usual gasp that caused him to cough and Lily to rush down the marble with her white heels clacking noisily in the foyer. ‘Are you alright, Severus?!’ She patted, thankfully lightly, on his back as the air steadily returned to his lungs. 

He noticed out the corner of his eye his Mother was shaking her head and covering her mouth with a bejewelled hand—his brother was around the corner snickering into the wall and looking close to collapsing from his own lack of oxygen. He scowled momentarily, then answered the Goddess. ‘I’m alright, you look stunning.’ 

She smiled shyly and took a step back, her hands flaring her dress excessively as she did a little twirl on her heel. This caused Severus to smile, ‘Really, you think so?’ 

He nodded quickly, ignoring the gasping and his Mother’s reprimands to Ainala. ‘Really. Shall we?’ He wanted to add that she always looked stunning but stopped himself before his mouth could listen to his brain. Taking his arm with a nod of her ginger ringlets, they walked out of the Manor, through the miraculous personal gardens and down the Hill to the Meadow. 

[~] [~] [~] 

The Party was in full swing when they decided to go and lay down behind the marque; the lush grass just beckoned you to do it—he was surprised no one else was out here yet, it always seemed to be the place for bored teens when they held these Gala’s. They had of course nicked a bottle of some expensive wine before sneaking out and now sat, arms propping them up beside each other, sharing the one bottle of fruity alcohol. 

As they steadily got more drunk, he felt Lily crawl closer to him. What surprised him, had him gawking and choking on a sip of wine was that Lily had actually crawled into his lap, her face flushed prettily, the jewelled eyes that he loved so much shining brightly in the moonlit midnight. 

‘Lily?’ 

She was, perhaps, slightly more drunk than he considering that they were into the Elvish wine and he’d been sipping this stuff since he’d turned 14, it probably wasn’t much of a surprise. ‘Sev’ She leaned forward, her nickname for him that was so rare these days falling from her lush lips as she pushed him back until his arms gave way and his head hit grassy slope. 

He wasn’t 100% sure he should allow this. ‘Lily, what are you doing?’ He could admit that he was only 10% less drunk than the girl leaning on him and hovering close to his face with her bright emeralds glowing. 

‘Mm’ She leaned closer until his eyes fluttered and his breath stuttered in his chest. ‘I’m going to kiss you.’ She whispered, her words slightly slurred as she giggled. 

‘Wha—!!’ His eyes flew wide then shut all in one second as her soft lips finally pressed against his thin ones. ‘NNnn’ He couldn’t help involuntarily groaning as his arms came up to her as they kissed in the dark. 

[~] [~] [~] 

‘Ahh’ 

‘Haah’ 

He had no idea what he was doing. He had no idea if he should be doing it and he had no idea what she was thinking about doing it but they were doing it. 

‘Oh! Sev ’us!’ 

‘Ah, haah, uh, Lil!’ 

This was probably, the best, most worst, decision of his life, right here, right now. He wanted to roll them over but since he didn’t want to ruin that pretty dress he just grabbed her tighter around the waist and pushed into her tight heat deeper. Her moans were incredible and they only seemed to fuel their desire to do this, here, now, on the grassy slope, drunk, with hundreds of people behind them with only noise and music to cover their moans and Severus hand to muffle her screams, or his tongue. He wasn’t even sure that she hadn’t already done this with that shithead Potter. 

The thought wasn’t an appealing one so in order to slam it from his mind, to counter it, he pushed harder and sucked the scream right out of her throat as they snogged senselessly. 

The best, most worst, decision of his life. 

[~] [~] [~] 

It was awkward. 

He knew it would be. 

They were sat across from each other at the breakfast table, their uncomfortableness resonating around the marbled tabletop and making everyone present there just as uncomfortable and stare at them suspiciously. They hadn’t spoken to one another at all since they’d woken up in his bed completely naked, sore and more than a bit covered in bodily fluids; they’d obviously fallen asleep in the middle of having sex, as he recalled they had actually been pretty close in the sheet that his penis could have simply slipped out in the middle of sleep. 

He shifted uncomfortably as he spooned through his breakfast. 

‘What is up with you two this morning?’ This was obviously Ainala. 

Silence. And this was them completely ignoring everything but their breakfast. 

‘Hello, me, Ai, asked you a question, kiddies.’ 

Severus shook his bedhead. ‘Knock it off, we’re eating.’ 

‘I don’t think so little Brother, something’s off. Something’s different.’ 

‘Well figure it out yourself, leave us out of it.’ He munched unhappily on his piece of toast for a good couple of seconds before shaking his head and scraping back his chair. ‘Excuse me.’ He bowed to his Mother and exited the room, rushing up the staircase and down the hall until he was slamming his bedroom door closed and shoving his face into his pillow—regrettably, it smelt of sex. 

He pushed himself back up with a grouch and decided to get changed, not having done so and simply put clothes on as hastily as Lily had. He ignored the bed, the smell, and the…stains that proved they had been doing illicit sexual acts for some time last night after they had come back to the Manor. 

Knock. 

Knock. 

He ignored the knocking in order to scrub himself down thoroughly in the shower. 

Creak. 

‘Severus?’ 

He sighed and turned off the shower, knowing he couldn’t ignore her forever if he wanted to continue having her in his life though he wasn’t sure how much he was going to be allowed that anymore, and wrapped himself in a towel before exiting the extravagant bathroom. ‘Yes?’ It was wary. 

Lily was avoiding even going anywhere near the bed and instead stood by the door she had creaked open. ‘I think, I think we need to talk.’ 

Wonderful, he thought. 

‘Talk?’ 

She nodded, ‘What we did, last night, Severus, I can’t do that again, I shouldn’t have done it in the first place.’ She looked pained as he turned to her, finished dressing. 

‘Why not?’ He could have kicked himself, in fact, he mentally did. 

‘Why not?!’ She screeched, her hands coming to her waves and pulling. He cringed, taking a step back. ‘Severus we’re friends! It was a mistake, for Godric’s Sake I’m James’s Girlfriend.’ She heaved and dropped her head when the words left her mouth. 

He blinked. ‘What? Since when did you become that prat’s girlfriend?!’ He snarled it unthinkingly. 

She whispered, ‘He’s not a prat, if you just get to know him…’ Her voice trailed when he growled and her jewels closed in agony. ‘Not long…But I…’ He watched her lick her lips and the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes and fell. ‘I don’t think I can be around you right now, just, give me some time to sort this out. Okay?’ 

He stared, swallowing back the agony. ‘Okay, I’ll have you sent back to Hogwarts then, your party’s probably till in full swing anyway. Those parties usually go all weekend, don’t they?’ 

She nodded slowly and with a sad smile as she turned, she left and he cursed, wanting to stomp and throw something but he didn’t he knew that it wasn’t going to help and he’d long past when he would have tantrums, he could thank his Father for that. He had to go and arrange her passage back to Hogwarts early, he was going to hate that conversation with his Mother, she’d gone to a lot to get them here for the weekend in the first place—he’d probably end up just going back with her. He grabbed a coat from his wardrobe, pulled it on, disintegrated the entire mattress and all that covered it and waltzed right out of the room with determination, depressing determination. 

[~] [~] [~] 

He had hated having that conversation with his Mother and seeing the intense stare from his elder brother around the corner, spying. His Mother had arranged it with his expressive word that he would make it up to her and he had gone back with Lily to Hogwarts. That ride had been silent and uncomfortable and the entire year afterwards hadn’t been any better. 

She’d stopped talking to him, he’d finally given up and joined with the Slytherin’s, join the Death Eater’s with the Dark Lord’s mark being forever emblazoned on his left forearm, regretting it immediately, learned the crushing announcement of Lily and Potter’s engagement, learned of their happy wedding and honeymoon and learnt of their impending first child. 

 

First Chapter: 

Harry had no clue what this place was, or why he was here. 

He cautiously looked around, avoided the playing children that didn’t look entirely human and tried not to bring too much attention to himself, alas, his cautiousness and hard work were for naught as someone came running from cross the large meadow, through the path of the playing children and straight towards him with a face that seemed extremely familiar. 

‘Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ The man held out a hand with a charming smile on his pale features, clearly expecting Harry to greet him. Harry just blinked back, was this person, human? He stared at the long ears that sat straight out from the dark brown hair and stared at the slight vine that travelled up the man’s neck from beneath his brown tunic collar. 

Where in the world was he?! And how in the hell had he gotten here?! Last Harry remembered, he’d been about to fight Malfoy and then Snape had tried to intervene; since a spell one of Malfoy’s cronies had fired at him first, had been dangerous. Perhaps Snape hadn’t been quick enough and now he was unconscious in the Hospital Wing for the millionth time and he was dreaming some weird ass dream? 

‘I’m Ainala. You are, Harry, yes?’ His hand had retreated some moments ago when it wasn’t immediately taken. He looked a bit put-out. 

Harry still wasn’t sure what was going on but, what they heck, if it was a dream then it couldn’t hurt to tell this man who he was right? ‘Yes.’ It was surprisingly less than friendly and the man took a step back, his hazel eyes wide and his long-pointed ears drawn downwards. 

‘Well then, ahem, would you like to follow me and we can get this sorted out?’ 

‘Get this sorted out?’ He mirrored slowly. He did however follow the man as he turned on heel and walked back the way he had come, right through the children’s pebble hopscotch game; they frowned and Harry, hesitating walked around them with a wry smile and hands up in surrender. 

‘Yes.’ This time, this man, or Ainala as he called himself, was less than friendly in his approach to Harry’s words. He supposed that was his fault. They walked silently the rest of the way until they reached a large Manor House; whoever lived here, was very high born though clearly not royalty or they would be residing in the castle that he could see up the hill that was surrounded by a large white ornate fence-like wall—it was definitely hiding royalty or it wouldn’t look so important and wouldn’t dominant a large portion of the scenery. 

‘Do you live here?’ He asked, going to close the door behind him when what looked like a servant beat him to it with a look of annoyance wary bemusement. 

‘No. I do not but I once did. My Mother resides here.’ 

‘Oh.’ He said, scratching the back of his head. They walked again in silence until they reached a library; it’s books reached all the way to the ceiling in bookcases that lined all four walls that Harry could see as they walked further inside. Harry thought of Hermione, Remus and weirdly, Snape, as he entered. They’d love to have their hands on this Library, he was sure of it. They’d have a field day. It was apparently also where the Lady of the house decided to spend her free time because there she sat, waiting patiently on a leather sofa for him to acknowledge her there. 

Her dark brown hair was tied up in a high ponytail that was half wrapped around itself and a signet sat across the very top of her forehead. She wore a beautiful gown of red as she stood to greet him. ‘How do you do Mister Potter, I am the Lady of the House, Eileen Prince.’ 

He inclined his head with a second frowning of his features. Prince? Hadn’t he heard that name somewhere before, and how did she know his? He didn’t think it was necessary but he introduced himself anyway. ‘Harry Potter, Mam. If I may ask, how do you appear to know who I am and do you happen to know why I am here?’ 

Harry watched, suspicious now as she placed a book back on a space between two bookshelves and smiled kindly when she turned back around. 

‘Harry, dear, I do believe you know my son and why you are here, I believe he did not wish any harm to come to you—he must not have been able to stop it.’ 

‘What?’ Harry blinked. 

Ainala frowned from beside him. How very ill-mannered, to think, his brother couldn’t discipline this child properly. ‘Watch your manners, boy.’ 

Harry whipped around to face him, ‘Don’t call me boy.’ He turned quickly enough back to face the Lady of the house. ‘I apologise. What do you mean Mam?’ 

She smiled kindly again and patted the seat as she sat back down. He sat down cautiously and tried not to feel comfortable as he did so; the sofa wasn’t all what he’d expected upon seeing the leather upholstery. ‘Dear, my son is—

‘What in God’s name, were you thinking Potter?! You could have been killed!!’ 

Harry’s head whipped up when the voice sounded from down the hall and his emerald eyes widened when the owner of that voice entered into the Library. ‘Professor Snape?!’ It wasn’t that he was surprised, well, yes, he was very surprised to see his Professor but what surprised him more was the fact that the Professor barely looked like Snape and he looked similar to the brown-haired male. 

‘Yes.’ He hissed. ‘What on earth were you thinking, you idiotic child!? You realise that they are junior death eater’s? They have been trained to hate you, Potter. My God, as far as my knowledge Draco Malfoy has already taken the Dark Mark.’ 

‘Malfoy’s a coward. It was only one of Malfoy’s cronies anyway; I doubt it was that bad.’ He stared like he thought Snape was the one that was stupid. 

‘Oh, you think so? Well, let me educate you Potter, they are not as stupid as you believe that they are, in fact, they aren’t stupid at all. They get better grades then you do in some of their classes. If you had not been so lucky, you would be nothing but a splat of guts and blood on the entrance hall wall right now, I hope you come to realise. The moment that you were deposited here, which was no easy feat on my part, that spell smashed a hole clean through the spot you were standing. You should be grateful, you little whelp.’ He growled. 

Harry went to stand but the older woman’s hands on his arm and the strangely kind smile and shake of her head pleaded for him not too, so he sat back down with a huff. ‘I didn’t ask for you to help me.’ He grumbled. 

‘No, you did not. But I owe it to your Mother.’ Snape leaned himself against the library entrance and closed his eyes with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. 

‘What?’ Harry blinked, frowning. ‘What does that mean, and where the hell are we?’ 

‘Watch your mouth.’ He pointed, without looking. ‘You’re in the Elven Realm, Potter and perhaps it’s because I feel I owe your Mother to keep your worthless hide alive when she can’t, when she disregarded her own life to save yours.’ He opened his black eyes and glared. ‘We were friend’s.’ 

Snort. 

‘Ainala.’ 

‘Ahem, sorry.’ 

Harry narrowed his eyes on them, ‘Are you brother’s or something?’ It was hard for him to comprehend this but he turn to the woman beside him, ‘Are you Snape’s Mother?’ then he turned back to the men, ‘Are you Elves?!’ His voice rose with each sentence out of his mouth. 

Snape rolled his eyes. ‘I expect that’s a bit hard for you to swallow huh? Yes, we are, half anyway. What part of you are in the Elven Realm, did you not understand Potter?’ ‘I don’t expect you know much about Elves. We have nothing to do with House Elves, they are more commonly called Brownies here, and if we were not Elves, would we have the long ears?’ He rolled his dark eyes again and came further into the room to properly greet his Mother, in fact, greet her. 

‘I do apologise for not greeting you Mother, and not visiting, I have been meaning to come sooner but things have been quite hectic in the wizarding world and I simply can’t get away, and with Potter there, he doesn’t make it any easier.’ 

Harry glowered. 

‘Not to worry dear, your brother and his family are more than welcome. Now, if only you would bring yours.’ She chuckled girlishly as Snape blushed and cringed, pushing himself down into the opposite seat after a bow. Harry stared unblinkingly. 

‘You know that I cannot do that, Mother.’ 

‘No, I suppose you can’t.’ Her eyebrow raised and Harry had a sneaking suspicion she knew something, some big secret as her hand fell atop his arm again. He stared down at the manicured nails. 

‘If you were friends with my mother, why couldn’t you ever get along with my dad?’ 

Snape seemed to cringe. ‘Potter senior was a bully, you saw that.’ He growled this. ‘A tormentor, and a great heaping arse. Why would I want to, it had nothing to do with being friends with your mother; I wouldn’t force her to choose and she wouldn’t force me to get along with the marauders.’ He glared. 

Harry’s eyes widened slightly at the end. ‘But, then, how did you stay friend’s?’ 

‘They didn’t.’ Ainala butted in before Snape could open his mouth again. 

Harry turned to him, ‘What?’ 

‘They didn’t, as far as I know. But it isn’t because of James Potter that they stopped being friends, well, at least I don’t think it was the entire reason.’ 

Snape growled, ‘Ainala shut the fuck up.’ 

Ainala’s hazel eyes widened, as did Harry’s; he’d never heard Snape swear before. ‘Why? The child wants to know, why not tell him, there’s no harm.’ There was an edge to his words that Harry found strange. 

‘It isn’t important. Shut up.’ 

Harry watched as, to him, what appeared to be the elder brother, rolled his eyes and stepped out of the library. ‘I’m going to go retrieve my family from home and bring them here, as my sons and daughter might like to meet you.’ He pointed at Harry. ‘They’re around your age now.’ He left then, with a chuckle. 

‘Play nice, Severus, you’ve not seen each other in some time. He’s missed you, as have your niece and nephews.’ It was so weird to think of Snape having family. 

Snape nodded slowly with a heavy exhale of air. 

Harry rubbed at his head, unsure why it felt as if there was something very important being unsaid here, like there was some big secret that only he wasn’t in the know about. It was strange to think of Snape as an Elf too, the man was almost…Handsome, in this true form of his and it was even weirder to think that his mother had once been friends with Snape, and it was still weird that Snape had been protecting him for the last six, almost seven years of Hogwarts because he felt he owed Lily Potter to do so. This man had put up with a lot of shit from him over the years; it must have been hard to protect him when all he did was get into trouble? 

They sat in silence, well Harry sat in silence, as Snape and his Mother conversed quietly in the corner of the room, relocating away from Harry. That was until the sudden sounds of yelling could be heard from down the hallway and the pounding of feet rushed at the library. He looked up surprised when three teenagers came barging their way in all at once that they actually got stuck in the archway. 

Harry blinked and pushed his glasses back up his nose; it was an interesting sight. He’d never been witness to people being stuck in a doorway like that before and needing the parents help to wiggle free as they yelled at each other, unable to apparently wait to hug their long-awaited uncle. Hug? Snape? No way. Harry started to shake his raven locks slowly. 

Finally, free with a bit more pushing and shoving and magic, they clambered over each other to get to their uncle and grandmother until all you could see was the top of Snape’s head on the floor; Harry tried not to laugh as they fell to the hard wood floor, hearing the groan of an old man hitting it; he couldn’t actually stop the snort from his kneeling position over the sofa. 

‘Potter it is not funny. Get off, you lot. Now.’ He huffed, pushing. They quickly retreated and straightened themselves, as one apologising and turning to stare, unblinkingly at Harry who blinked back, swallowed and licked his lips nervously—there was something oddly unnerving about it, were they triplets or something? 

‘Let me introduce my children, since they can’t seem to do it themselves.’ He came forward, his beauty blonde and blue-eyed wife following behind. ‘This one is our eldest; Rei.’ He tapped the boy on the sandy head harshly and at the jolt he inclined his head and half of his body with a mumble. 

‘This one is our second eldest, Petal and our youngest Aei.’ He tapped each on the head just the same and just the same they inclined their heads and mumbled. 

‘Are you triplets?’ He asked, waving over the couch. Surprisingly very spot on for Harry; they nodded their heads. ‘Ah, I’m Harry Potter.’ 

The youngest who had the darkest blonde head of hair and the darkest blue eyes spoke with something akin to awe in his whispering voice. ‘You’re—You’re Uncle Severus’—’ The eldest triplets quickly covered their brother’s mouth. 

‘Excuse him, he likes to babble.’ They trailed off with smiles that were too forced and fake, their eyes flicking away from his emeralds. They turned to look at their brother, with something like “what the hell?” expressions. 

Harry frowned fiercely. ‘I’m, “Uncle Severus’”, what?’ He pressed. 

‘Student.’ 

‘Uncle Severus’ student.’ They said, seeming edgy. 

Harry didn’t like it. Something was off here. 

‘Anybody for lunch?’ 

Harry blanched, turning, ‘You aren’t taking me back?’ he looked at Snape and the man raised his eyebrow in return. 

‘It would appear not right now, wouldn’t it? I think we’ll stick around for the lunch I suggested, besides, it might be good for you. You might learn to be a little wary about your actions.’ 

Harry’s mouth fell open, ‘What?’ 

‘Go play, I am going to catch up with my mother, my brother and my sister-in-law.’ He waved airily and dismissively as he placed himself back into a seat. ‘Do be careful and please try to stay out of trouble, I’m not even sure the triplets could accomplish that.’ 

Harry grouched immediately but fell back into the sofa, only to jump when three different butts fell down beside him and three sets of eyes stared at him. ‘So, Harry, do you want to go look around the garden, or the meadow?’ He hummed and rubbed the back of his neck, not having any choice it would seem as the youngest grabbed him by the hand and promptly pulled him to his feet—before his sister, who pouted. 

‘So how old are you?’ 

Harry looked down slightly as they walked. ‘I’m 17 now.’ 

‘Ah, we’re 15.’ 

Harry nodded, his emerald eyes wandering from them as he looked up to around the gardens they’d just entered into—they were quite something, he hadn’t bothered to look when he’d been escorted by Ainala. ‘So, do you not see your uncle very often?’ He thought it was a good a place to start as any in his own interrogation, since you know, he wanted to know what the hell was going on and why not start with the children of Snape’s elder brother? They might just be informative what with that obvious slip up in the Library earlier. 

He stared up as they paused before a large tree, perhaps an oak, or perhaps something that wasn’t entirely of this world, or his world rather; it was ginormous, so large that it’s fronds splayed out like several large fans so that it easily cast enough shade to cover them from the sun as they sat down, apparently now outside the garden having walked straight through a well disguised door hidden among the wall of vines; how did he miss that earlier walking with Ainala? 

‘Not very often no, he’s busy a lot working in the wizarding world, he mostly grew up there from our Papa tells us. What’s it like?’ 

‘Like?’ Harry questioned, eyes once more wandered around, now, wandering the meadow and watching as sprites flickered in and out of bushes. The children were no longer playing pebble hopscotch. 

‘The wizarding world, what’s it like. We’ve never been, haven’t been anywhere outside the Elven Realm actually. Father doesn’t think we can handle it.’ Harry knew this was the eldest now, instead of the youngest. They had different tones, different speech patterns, different words for their Dad. 

‘It’s dangerous.’ Harry immediately blurted, eyes going wide as he saw a sprite flash near a bush and instantly transform into a small leaf-clothed child. The triplets sat quietly after his outburst and Harry swallowed. ‘Uh, it’s not dangerous all the time, well, it didn’t used to be, but there’s this bad man wandering around, so it is now.’ He waved vaguely. ‘I’ve been kind of tasked to defeat him and stuff. I’ve been training like crazy with your Uncle and some other people that know their spells and defence and everything I need—can’t very well send me to defeat someone so many more years older than me and way more experienced. It’s not like I could simply walk out and say expelliarmus, that wouldn’t help.’ He laughed derisively. ‘What’s it like here?’ Harry figured, since they were here, and they weren’t going anywhere, there was no harm in telling them, right? 

Their eyes were wide as they took in the information and slowly responded to his question. ‘Here? Um, it’s alright. It can be dangerous if you’ve never been here before, so, it makes sense what Uncle Severus said to you about being careful. You really shouldn’t wander around here, the sprites can be a bit naughty and the nymphs aren’t always friendly with their water sports, the sirens certainly aren’t and well, the faeries are always naughty so you definitely don’t want to mess with them. You’d be surprised just how many creatures here would love to harm you, play with you, sleep with you or simply drown you.’ 

Harry blanched at Petal’s words. ‘Oh…Kay…’ 

They all nodded and Aei spoke up again, ‘Do you have a wand like Uncle Severus?’ 

Harry nodded, ‘Yeah, see?’ He held it out and they reverently touched it with the pads of their fingers. He wasn’t sure what they thought it might do. 

‘It feels…different than Uncle’s Severus’, warmer, but it’s darker.’ 

Harry smiled uncomfortably. ‘Oh?’ 

‘Mm.’ 

He swallowed, pocketing it. ‘Do you know much about my mother and your uncle?’ 

‘UH…’ Aei stuttered but quickly shut his mouth and looked away, reconfirming the ravens suspicions that this family of elves were hiding something quite large from him, something that was to do with him, he could just tell—especially when one avoids looking at the askers eyes and their words and mannerisms are uncertain as they avoided the question or distracted you. 

Harry knew this trick. He didn’t like secrets, he’d had a blow out in Dumbledore’s office his fifth year because he’d been lied too, he’d been feeling off and he’d had Dumbledore avoiding him like he’d had the plague. He hated things being kept from him when it expressed involved him, especially when it felt very, very, very important for his future. 

He had to know. 

He just had too. 

‘You can tell me.’ He said. 

‘Sorry?’ Aei jerked. 

‘You can tell me, whatever it is. It’s not like I’m going to tell on you.’ He looked directly at each set of very different blue eyes. Their mother had obviously had the more dominant elvish genes, as they appeared to have all taken hers. Variations of blonde crowns and variations of blue irises. 

‘Oh, that’s so beautiful!’ Harry didn’t even attempt to turn around at the obvious try at distracting from Petal. He stared unblinkingly at her until she lowered her arm and her features relaxed back into a worried uncertain freeze-frame. 

‘…’ 

‘…’ 

‘…’ 

Harry sighed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Wow." Severus onyx eyes were huge as he looked up the staircase. At the top, her hand on the marble staircase, was Lily, in all her beauty.   
Her ginger hair was braided in certain parts, as was his, but hers were inbedded with sparkling crystals, it was also up and it fell across her shoulders.   
She looked absolutely beautiful, he was imencely glad that he was the one taking her to this gala and not someone like Potter. 

He gave a silent pray that his mother had found someway for them to come back during the new school term. 

He would of hated to miss this chance. He knew he wouldn't get another one; upon returning, Potter had taken Lily aside and apparently had asked her to some Gryffindor party or nother; she'd said yes...unfortunately. 

He looked back up and continued to stare at her as she made her way down, her heels make some amount of noise on the marble beneath her long, flared out, light green dress, it was amazing how much it matched her emerald eyes so well; the flaring he assumed was because it had a large white tule skirt beneath it. When she finally reached the bottom, he could notice the flush that had spread, racing up to the tips of her ears. 

His own face and neck were no better, but thankfully she didn't seem to really notice, to embarrassed herself. 

"Hi." 

"Hi." Severus smiled crookedly, it wasn't something he did often, though he did it often enough for her; he was so nervous, he could feel his palms sweating. She was so pretty and he was the one taking her, him, not Potter, not some other prick, him, Severus. He was taking her. "Shall we?" 

She nodding silently with a small smile and took his arm, allowing him to lead them to the festivities. 

~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~

"Sevvy?" 

"Mm." He leaned further back on his arms, feeling them become numb as they had been admittedly laying on the hill for quite sometime now.   
Through a haze of stolen alcohol, he felt his best friend crawl closer to him, drapping herself over his shoulders. 

Her breath passed over his ear and he shivered. "Lily?" 

The breath on his ear became heavier and she leanded further forward, the softness of her lips now felt across his cheek; they pressed there and he shivered further, taking a larger gulp of the bottle they were sharing. 

What exactly was going on? 

 

 

"Not really." Harry shrugged. "How did work, you and my dad didn't get along..." 

"What does our animosity have to do with it? I was friends with your mother, that has nothing to do with Potter at all." 

"Really? But then...I think it would have." 

"True, I completely agree. I was surprised you were still friends at all after that gala in your seventh year here, hah." He laughed and Harry turned to him really quickly. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Ailei." Snape growled. 

"What do you mean?" Harry repeated. 

"Well, there was a gala here and little Severus asked your mother, since she spent the holiday here, she said yes and after going back to Hogwarts for a little, they returned to attend. Something occured that night because they were awkward and didn't speak to each other at all the morning after, nor for several months after that, it was only just before they graduated that they started to talk again...only well, then your mother was pregnant with you and she was engaged to James Potter." He shrugged and Harry frowned. 

"You slept with my mother?" Harry licked his lips and leaned forward to stare at Snape intensily. 

"Why would you think that Potter?" 

"You had a thing for my mother, I'm not stupid Professor, as much as you wish to believe so; I even do well in potions, when no ones standing over my shoulder and slytherins aren't sabatging them." He grouched the last. "Besides, awkwardness the next morning, not speaking for the next several months. Professor, you slept together and let me guess, she was with my father when you did, so she didn't want to talk to you for a while to work out her feelings?" 

Harry watched as Snape's face seemed to pale even more than it was normally and his dark eyes became darker. 

"Spot on huh Professor?" He smirked. 

"That's very slytherin of you Potter." He narrowed his eyes. 

Harry shrugged. "The hat wanted me there." 

"Pardon the intrusion, Harry dear, how old are you?" 

"I'm 17 Madame. Why?" 

"Oh no reason, when's your birthday?" 

"...July 31st?" 

Harry felt suspicious again and licked his lips with narrowed eyes.


End file.
